Archive for November, 2012

Roadrunner Swedish progressive metal masters Opeth have the technical abilities to play almost any metal song ever written. During a tour stop in Germany, the band recently performed two legendary tracks, one of which is perhaps the world’s easiest metal song to play, mostly because it’s only two-seconds long. Opeth frontman Mikael Akerfeldt began to introduce the cover that group had planned on playing, ‘Solitude’ by Black Sabbath , but started to speak about how they had also covered Napalm Death ‘s ‘You Suffer’ in the past. After some cheers from the audience, Opeth performed ‘You Suffer’ in its two-second entirety for the exhilarated audience. Akerfeldt then went on to introduce ‘Solitude,’ a song that Opeth had played in the past. “Opeth, back in the day, in the early ’90s, we used to play this song. Back then I was really into making good-sounding rehearsal tapes, basically not proper studio demos, but you just have a tape recorder in the rehearsal room and record your band practice. And they had to be perfect, there couldn’t be any noise prior to the song or after the song, it had to be like a proper recording. I was very anal about that kind of thing.” He continues, “This song, we recorded and the drummer at the time had a cymbal on the drumstick, and it sounded perfect but in the end, he dropped the cymbal, [makes crashing noise] so I had to do it again. So don’t drop the f—ing cymbal.” Both Sabbath and Opeth fans are sure to appreciate this cover, as it’s masterfully pulled off by Akerfeldt and the boys. Opeth Perform Napalm Death’s ‘You Suffer’ and Black Sabbath’s ‘Solitude’ Live

Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images Machine Head fans worldwide we certainly happy to hear that frontman Robb Flynn made it through his emergency hernia surgery with just a bad-ass scar, allowing Flynn to get back on the road for their current tour with Dethklok, All That Remains and The Black Dahlia Murder. Adding to the list of good news, Machine Head are planning to start writing their next album once the tour comes to an end. Guitarist Phil Demmel was recently interviewed by thenervousbreakdown.com , where he shared some details about the follow-up to Machine Head’s 2011 album, ‘Unto the Locust.’ “After this tour, we want to get in and start writing,” begins Demmel. “We’ve got a couple of things for next year, but for the most part we want to get in and hopefully start recording before the end of the year next year. Have we thought about directions or any of that? It hasn’t really been agreed upon yet. I think we’re just going to write like we have been.” He adds, “Our formula has been to just come up with something and see what happens. Nothing contrived, you know? That’s how [current hit] ‘Darkness Within’ happened, and that’s how a lot of the stuff on the last album happened, so we’ll just see how we progress. Robb took classical lessons before the last record, so I think it’s just going to be an amalgamation of everything we’ve learned so far. We keep evolving, and it’s not going to be ‘Blackening II’ and it’s not going to be ‘Unto the Locust II.’ I think it’s going to be our strongest record.” Demmel also shared his personal songwriting tricks. “I have a little recorder and I mouth riffs into it. Sitting around watching football and just noodling and recording little harmonies come up, and having them come together with these guys is an amazing process. When you write from the heart, it’s pure and it’s genuine and that’s how we’re going to do it. I won’t be in the band if that’s not going to be the case.” Check out the remaining dates for Machine Head’s current tour and click the button below to see the band on our 10 Best Metal Songs of 2012 list. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/best-metal-songs-of-2012/” title=”See the 10 Best Metal Songs of 2012″ align=”center”]

A&M / Octone The return of Hollywood Undead is upon us, as the band has now revealed the artwork and track listing for their forthcoming ‘Notes From the Underground’ album. The latest news follows the recent revelation that the disc would arrive on Jan. 8 and the current success of the new single, ‘We Are.’ The band recently announced that they were shooting a video for the track with Slipknot ‘s Shawn “Clown” Crahan stepping behind the camera to film the clip . As for the artwork (seen to the left), it offers the look of a weathered book with stenciled orange lettering set against a solid red backdrop with an image of a bird carrying its prey. The disc itself consists of 11 new tunes, led by ‘ We Are .’ One of the band’s vocalists, Johnny 3 Tears, recently stated of the track and its background, “The song is about collective resistance. It’s the silent majority, but we’re using Los Angeles as the backdrop. Every time we work with Danny [Lohner], he takes our music to the next level. He’s willing to go as far outside the box as we are. As a whole, it’s a good introduction to ‘Notes From The Underground’ because it encompasses the band idealistically. Think of it as an ode to our misled youth.” The set also features the lead off track, ‘Dead Bite,’ which the band already previewed, as well as such standouts as ‘Another Way Out’ and ‘Believe.’ The full track listing is provided below. Hollywood Undead, ‘Notes From the Underground’ Track List: 1. ‘Dead Bite’ 2. ‘From the Ground’ 3. ‘Another Way Out,’ 4. ‘Lion’ 5. ‘We Are’ 6. ‘Pigskin’ 7. ‘Rain’ 8. ‘Kill Everyone’ 9. ‘Believe’ 10. ‘Up in Smoke’ 11. ‘Outside’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/hollywood-undead-notes-from-the-underground-webisode-1-exclusive-premiere/” title=”Next: Watch a Hollywood Undead ‘Notes From the Underground’ Webisode” align=”center”]

A&M / Octone The return of Hollywood Undead is upon us, as the band has now revealed the artwork and track listing for their forthcoming ‘Notes From the Underground’ album. The latest news follows the recent revelation that the disc would arrive on Jan. 8 and the current success of the new single, ‘We Are.’ The band recently announced that they were shooting a video for the track with Slipknot ‘s Shawn “Clown” Crahan stepping behind the camera to film the clip . As for the artwork (seen to the left), it offers the look of a weathered book with stenciled orange lettering set against a solid red backdrop with an image of a bird carrying its prey. The disc itself consists of 11 new tunes, led by ‘ We Are .’ One of the band’s vocalists, Johnny 3 Tears, recently stated of the track and its background, “The song is about collective resistance. It’s the silent majority, but we’re using Los Angeles as the backdrop. Every time we work with Danny [Lohner], he takes our music to the next level. He’s willing to go as far outside the box as we are. As a whole, it’s a good introduction to ‘Notes From The Underground’ because it encompasses the band idealistically. Think of it as an ode to our misled youth.” The set also features the lead off track, ‘Dead Bite,’ which the band already previewed, as well as such standouts as ‘Another Way Out’ and ‘Believe.’ The full track listing is provided below. Hollywood Undead, ‘Notes From the Underground’ Track List: 1. ‘Dead Bite’ 2. ‘From the Ground’ 3. ‘Another Way Out,’ 4. ‘Lion’ 5. ‘We Are’ 6. ‘Pigskin’ 7. ‘Rain’ 8. ‘Kill Everyone’ 9. ‘Believe’ 10. ‘Up in Smoke’ 11. ‘Outside’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/hollywood-undead-notes-from-the-underground-webisode-1-exclusive-premiere/” title=”Next: Watch a Hollywood Undead ‘Notes From the Underground’ Webisode” align=”center”]

Mike Coppola / David Becker, Getty Images By now, most people are familiar with the Bon Jovi classic ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ and could sing it word for word if put on the spot, but Duff McKagan has a question that’s long been debated amongst his musician friends that pertains to the lyric “ I’ve seen a million faces and I’ve rocked them all .” The bassist ponders if this was truly a fact or just taking poetic license for a great lyric. In his latest Seattle Weekly article, the musician breaks down the argument he’s had with several musicians over the years. But before you think McKagan’s lost his mind, he does admit, “A musician has plenty of time to ponder things — both big and small — when they’re on the road. You have to hope for a good sense of shared humor when traveling and living together in cramped confines, something I call the tour bubble. If you can’t make light of some of the asinine situations you meet on the road, you are gonna be toast.” One of those “situations” was the ongoing Bon Jovi debate, where McKagan states that being on the road does expose you to a lot of people, but do you technically “rock” them all? McKagan says no. The bassist states, “I have no doubt that Bon Jovi had played to a million people by the time ‘Dead or Alive’ was released on ‘Slippery When Wet’ in 1986. But did they rock them all? Couldn’t it be that some dudes brought their girlfriends to the show and weren’t necessarily into the music of Bon Jovi? What about some parents? Or, maybe some people just didn’t get rocked? Hey, it’s happened to me. I’ve gone to gigs properly prepared to get rocked and it just didn’t happen for me.” He goes on to add, “How could they even be sure? They had played a bunch of festivals, and you KNOW that not everyone there was attending to come see their band. They had probably converted some of these people into new fans, but rocking them all would be a huge overstatement.” McKagan himself, who has enjoyed a lengthy career with Guns N’ Roses , Velvet Revolver and Loaded , among other projects, says, “In my whole career, I have certainly played to a ton of faces (I’ll let you do the math), but, hell, I was hammered for a couple of those years, and probably wasn’t concentrating on faces at all. Besides, how can you see all of the faces that you play to, hammered or not?! Lights are in your eyes! It’s dark! You have shades on! When you headline a smaller venue, with say 850 people, you can actually see all of the faces. But even if all of those people are there to see your band, and have spent their hard-earned money to come and spend the evening with you, isn’t it possible a few of those people were disappointed? I guess, ‘I’ve seen 48,000 faces, and I rocked close to 41,000 of them’ (a good damn percentage, by the way), is not so poetic.” To read more of McKagan’s weekly columns, check out his Seattle Weekly archive here . [button href=”http://loudwire.com/duff-mckagan-regrets-not-receiving-royalties-from-the-simpsons-beverage-duff-beer/” title=”Next: Duff McKagan Regrets Not Receiving Royalties From Duff Beer” align=”center”]

Blackened Recordings Metallica have just revealed the beginning of a new era in their history. Not only has the band launched their own record label, Blackened Recordings, but as of today, all of Metallica’s master recordings have reverted back to the band, giving them full ownership of their entire catalog. All the way back in 1994, Metallica made a deal with Warner Music Group that on Nov. 30, 2012, the band would exclusively own all of their recordings, including all their music videos and long form videos. According to statements from various band members, there is no ill will against Warner, the move is simply to possess full creative control of what happens with the music of Metallica from here forth. “We would like to thank everyone at the Warner Music Group for 28 years of a fantastic relationship, particularly since 1994 where we truly felt we had partners in every aspect of our business in North America,” says James Hetfield . Blackened Recordings will now be the home of everything Metallica, and will handle all marketing and promotion duties. The label is set to personally license their releases to Universal Music Group internationally. “It’s always been about control for us as a band,” says drummer Lars Ulrich . “Forming Blackened Recordings is the ultimate in independence, giving us 100% control and putting us in the driver’s seat of our own creative destiny.” Blackened Recordings will put out it’s inaugural release, the ‘ Quebec Magnetic ‘ DVD, on Dec. 10, which showcases footage from two Quebec City live performances recorded in 2009. [button href=”http://ultimatemetallica.com/” title=”See All the Latest Metallica News Here” align=”center”]

Mary Ouellette, SheWillShootYou.com In this week’s edition of the Loudwire Top 20 Countdown, there’s a new No. 1. Congrats to Shinedown , who make a big move from No. 3 to No. 1, leapfrogging Soundgarden to take the top spot with ‘Enemies’ off their ‘Amaryllis’ album. Soundgarden’s ‘Been Away Too Long’ may have to wait a little longer for countdown supremacy now that they’ve been surpassed by Shinedown, but their current hit is holding strong at No. 2. Last week’s chart topper, Stone Sour ‘s ‘Absolute Zero,’ slips back down the charts to No. 3, but still remains a favorite song at radio. Guitar great Slash and his band, featuring Myles Kennedy , inch up one spot closer to the top of the charts, with ‘Standing in the Sun’ planting its flag in the No. 4 spot on this week’s countdown. Meanwhile, another former chart-topper, Three Days Grace ‘s ‘Chalk Outline,’ may no longer be comfy at No. 1, but their descent isn’t exactly a rapid one as the group slides down one more spot to No. 5 this week. Outside of the Top 5, Chevelle ‘s ‘Same Old Trip,’ Five Finger Death Punch ‘s ‘The Pride’ and 3 Doors Down ‘s ‘One Light’ all tied for the major mover of the week, scaling up three spots apiece to numbers 10, 11 and 15 respectively. On the down side, Deftones ‘ ‘Tempest’ takes the biggest tumble falling from No. 11 to No. 14 on the Loudwire Top 20 Countdown. Plus, we’ve got a new debut this week from Adelitas Way , as their latest single ‘Alive’ announces its presence. Check out the Top 20 songs below and be sure to tune in to Loudwire Radio with host Mike “Sandman” Sanders this weekend and turn it all the way up. Loudwire Radio Top 20 Songs of the Week: 20. Adelitas Way, ‘Alive’ 19. Nonpoint, ‘Left for You’ 18. Black Keys, ‘Little Black Submarines’ 17. Halestorm, ‘I Miss the Misery’ 16. Kid Rock, ‘Let’s Ride’ 15. 3 Doors Down, ‘One Light’ 14. Deftones, ‘Tempest’ 13. All That Remains, ‘Stand Up’ 12. Green Day, ‘Let Yourself Go’ 11. Five Finger Death Punch, ‘The Pride’ 10. Chevelle, ‘Same Old Trip’ 9. Linkin Park ‘Lost in the Echo’ 8. Volbeat ‘Heaven Nor Hell’ 7. Avenged Sevenfold, ‘Carry On’ 6. In This Moment, ‘Blood’ 5. Three Days Grace, ‘Chalk Outline’ 4. Slash, ‘Standing in the Sun’ 3. Stone Sour, ‘Absolute Zero’ 2. Soundgarden, ‘Been Away Too Long’ 1. Shinedown, ‘Enemies’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/loudwire-radio-station-list/” title=”See Which Stations Air Loudwire Radio” align=”center”]